Ryan Seacrest showed off his incredible generosity on Wednesday night, as he treated the cast and crew of Live with Kelly & Ryan to a farewell dinner ahead of his exit from the show. The TV emcee gave a heartwarming speech during the event, as seen in a clip shared by the talk show’s official Instagram. It was simply captioned, “Ryan hosted a farewell dinner for the staff ❤️.”
“There really is no other place in our business like the Live show,” Ryan said at the fancy soiree. “I’m grateful to have been a part for six years.”
“What am I going to miss? Well, for starters, I will miss the red herrings. I will also miss sharing the bathroom, well, with everyone,” Ryan quipped. He went on to add the show’s legendary Halloween episodes to his list. A moment later, he took back the Halloween comment, joking, “That’s actually a lie.”
In February, Ryan, who took over as Michael Strahan’s permanent replacement in 2017, officially announced he would be leaving the job. “Working alongside Kelly over the past six years has been a dream job and one of the highlights of my career,” Ryan said on the show. “She has been an amazing partner, friend, and confidant, and although we will always be a part of each other’s lives, I will miss our mornings together.”
Kelly’s husband of 27 years, Mark Consuelos, whom she met on All My Children, was announced as Ryan’s replacement and will be joining the show full-time as her co-host. The show will be retitled Live with Kelly & Mark.
At the farewell dinner, Ryan had a special message for the man taking over his microphone. “My brother, Mark. Congratulations. It’s wonderful to go through this process with somebody that I love so much that obviously, I know, knows her better than I know her… ish,” he joked. “But congratulations. I can’t wait to watch… or tape it, sleep in and watch. Probably that, but congratulations, Mark.”
Ryan concluded his speech at the event by thanking the staff for “including me in this group,” admitting, “I was nervous when I started.” His final episode of Live with Kelly & Ryan will air Friday, April 14